Guy-Raymond partners with Datel to implement Sage X3

Guy-Raymond partners with Datel to implement Sage X3

7th December 2016

Founded in 1948, Guy-Raymond Engineering Co Ltd. produces a wide range of castors and assorted components for office seating, furniture, medical equipment, shop fittings, and many other applications.

From their expansive and modern factory based in Norfolk, the business manufactures and exports to over 30 countries all over the world, developing a global network of links with transport providers to provide international delivery of their products.

Representatives of Guy-Raymond were introduced to Datel when they were invited to attend Datel’s Connect 2015 event: a gathering of businesses, including current and prospective Datel customers, and filled with presentations and sessions designed to inform and advise delegates about both Datel’s and Sage’s products.

Kelvin Daniels, Managing Director at Guy-Raymond, explains the circumstances that led the business to accept Datel’s invite to attend Connect2015: “As a business, we’ve grown steadily over the years – primarily as a manufacturing organisation with a small amount of distribution, but now also exporting around 60% of our production.

“As a result of this growth, our old ERP system, Pegasus Opera, was proving cumbersome to use. We’d been using Opera for a long time and weren’t updating to the latest versions very often, as we had done a lot of customisation work to the system, which would be problematical with updates. Whenever we did update to the latest version of the software, it would take a considerable amount of effort and downtime – basically draining our resources.

“This all made it much more difficult for us to move to a newer version, and unfortunately meant that the system was operating using mostly outdated features and functionality, and wasn’t compatible with the new hardware we wanted to start using as a business, to accommodate and fuel our growth.

“Clearly, the time had come for us to start looking for a new ERP solution. We had been in touch with Datel for some time, so when we were invited to attend Connect 2015 to learn more about Sage and the ERP buying process, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.”

Kelvin notes exactly how the Connect event from Datel was useful to Guy- Raymond: “One particular presentation at the event was focused on the ins and outs of choosing an ERP software provider and support partner, which was very helpful and gave a lot of people in our company food for thought.”

In terms of how the business came to decide on their specific software solution, Kelvin said: “We had considered various other types of software, but after meeting the staff at Datel at Connect 2015, and a period of research and discussion, we unanimously decided to use a Sage solution.

“We realised that Sage X3 offered us a lot of advantages, especially in terms of being user-friendly and our being able to customise it ourselves in certain aspects, helping us to become more self-sufficient.

“Sage X3 gives us much better performance than Opera, with the number of manual processes being performed by staff set to reduce dramatically, giving us more time to complete value-added tasks.

“The main area that the software will be handling is more simplified sales order processing and stock control. Sage X3 will also provide us with new financial and reporting capabilities to give us a lot more insight into the business day-today.

“The fact that Sage X3 is able to produce documents in different languages will also offer us a lot of benefits. Having multilingual capabilities for our international reporting is something that we simply didn’t have previously, and is an example of just one of the many steps forward Sage X3 will take us.

“There are a lot of possibilities for us and the system will support us into the future, so we won’t be held back in any respect from growing as a business.”

Commenting on why Guy-Raymond chose Datel as their business partner of choice, Kelvin said: “After attending Connect 2015, it was from then that we thought Datel would be a good business partner for us.

“We did look at two other suppliers as serious alternatives, and it was admittedly a somewhat close call between Datel and another Sage business partner. The main allure of Datel was Datel’s considerable size and stake in the marketplace, in addition to the fact that Datel is one of the few business partners holding ISO:9001 accreditation. This cinched it for us and gave us all the reassurance we needed on Datel’s quality of service.”

For Datel, Sales Director Andrew Pritchard comments: “It’s a testament to the knowledge and experience of the team here at Datel that we are now working with Kelvin and Guy-Raymond. I’m delighted to see that the workshops and presentations at Datel’s Connect event last year played such an integral role in introducing Guy-Raymond not only to the benefits of Sage and Datel, but to the various processes involved with choosing the right vendor and software.

“We’re looking forward to hosting our next Connect event in 2017, as well as supporting Guy-Raymond both during and after the implementation process, to see how Sage X3 facilitates the business’s growth into the future.”

“The fact that Sage X3 is able to produce documents in different languages will also offer us a lot of benefits. Having multilingual capabilities for our international reporting is something that we simply didn’t have previously, and is an example of just one of the many steps forward Sage X3 will take us.”